FACILITATION – A Tool For Teaching Children
“Give a fi sh to a hungry man and you will save him from
starvation today. Teach him to fi sh. He and his family will
prosper and be happy for a lifetime.”
This saying was the motto of András Pet?, founder of the
International Pet? Institute, who was fi ghting for the recovery
of each patient with superhuman persistence, determination
and will. To him there was no hopeless or unsolvable case.
A physician and educator, Dr. András Pet? was blessed
with exceptional empathy and philanthropy. His institute
and his lifework, his success in treating motor disorders,
and the internationally renowned “conductive educational
system” have given clients the unique possibility to start a
new full life through his colleagues and follower’s faith and
determination.
In the conductive education system facilitation includes all
the factors of the educational process which promote the
orthomotoric ways of solution and the formation of the
orthofunctional personality. Thus the group, the conductor’s
personality, the integrated program including task series,
the way the task is given and procedures helping successful
ways of solution may all be regarded as facilitation
factors. Factors could also include good organisation, the
daily routine and the equipment. Motivation promoting
activity, and rhythmic intention, i.e., speech accompanying
movement also have a facilitative effect. (Kozma, Hári)
These elements are closely connected to each other in
everyday practice and are simultaneously achieved in the
system. Their role and intensity in the process may be
different. Even the latest theories of learning (Pólya) share in
the view that the way of attaining new pieces of knowledge is
always the following:
• Motive
• Interest
• Comprehension
• Conception, planning
• Solution-controlling
In conductive education the same path has to be followed.
As a result of external or internal motivation, the dysfunction
individual is supposed to want to perform the particular
actions, to want to achieve a certain goal, to understand the
task to plan the necessary action and to apply it with the
correct solution, with control. Motive (goal) promoting to
want, anticipation and intention. If intention is there but help
is lacking the motor disabled person may develop pathological
movements that will hamper the intention.
FACILITATION is the necessary help given to the person to
make the correct implementation of the intention possible.
Facilitations are primarily of human character. (M. Hári)
The disabled person is facilitated by conduction guidance
along complex series of information, to fi nding the coordinated
way, providing experience to discover the right intention. The
different techniques in the habilitation and rehabilitation of
handicapped children, e.g. the disease specifi c correction of
movement functions form both the aim and the result but as
far as the order of the achievement is concerned, we must rely
on the fi ndings of pedagogy and we must make use of those
facilities which give optimal help to the learning process.
For this reason C.E. contrary to the different aspects of
rehabilitation is governed by pedagogic practices. From the
point of view of activating the disabled child in a way which
leads to optimal learning, therapy is only part of the equation:
insofar as whether or not the teaching/learning process will
lead to the correction of the function.
It is our belief that whatever the healthy child learns, the
disabled child will also acquire through learning. For this
reason we wish to secure the optimum conditions for learning.
In the concept of C.E. the problem solving person has to be
helped and not his/her functions. The person is constructing
his orthofunction. (M. Hári)
Types of facilitation:
• Operative observation
• Educational, social facilitation
• Guiding/conducting tasks
• Manual or equipment facilitation
• Postural facilitation
• Neurological facilitation
• Rhythm
• Mechanical (environmental) according to the child’s
human dimensions
The operative observation as facilitation
The operative, comparative, progressive observation is a way
of facilitation in a continual and systematic way. (M Hári) As
every pupil is unique, the solution of their problems follows
in different ways and the conductor has in mind the special
purposes depending on the subjects own qualities over time
and stage. There will be variability in means to the same and
they reach the same outcomes of tasks in different ways.
Educational and social facilitation
To provide activity and the positive attitude to life-providing
readiness imagination, motivation (M. Hári)
Every motivation is a valid educational activity. Intellectual
motives - regardless of the children’s age - are given by
advice, proposal hint, proof, and discussion. Emotional
motives are given in an interesting, emotionally preferable
way, through trust, success and self-respect. The preferred
facilitation is the system of the whole educational program,
with its multidisciplinary actions. These programs include
emotional, social, perceptual, cognitive, academic,
communication elements with simultaneous interconnections
(M. Hári). Every factor of the development is connected and
interrelated. The disabled people are not passive recipients
of stimuli; facilitation is given by the target itself which
becomes the goal of the individual.
Assistance can be in the way of people or equipment. It
can be direct or indirect. Assistance can be educational,
neurophysiological or mechanical.
Assistance is appropriate if:
• The person can build into his/her own activity
• It helps get over a deadlock
• It helps make the goal tangible
• It helps maintain the results already achieved
• It is not more than necessary but enough to achieve the
maximum of success
Trevarthen (1995) describes Vigotsky’s theory about the
aura of potential effectiveness that lies just beyond a
child’s current level of achievement as the ZPD (Zone of
Proximal Development) revealed when a sympathetic helper
gives appropriate support, and offers a glimpse of future
developments. The child’s current knowledge and skills
can connect with new experiences and new opportunities
for acting with the guidance and help of others. A child
with disabilities who is attempting to act on the world will
experience persistent barriers and disappointments. In spite
of brave determination, the task becomes not worth the
effort. That is why it is important that the natural desire to be
part of the team collaborating with a helper, who can make
a task possible, remains ready to receive encouragement
and enablement. The importance of dynamic interpersonal
contact is acknowledged in CE as the fundamental basis of
the child’s development. The group, interpersonal relations,
motivation and the performance of activity are regarded
as educational facilitation. The prevention of expected
mistakes and demonstration help correct ways of solution.
For example, children are reminded how to hold their
arms and feet before a concrete task, i.e. instructions are
given. Incorrect postures are prevented. For example, the
maximum extension of the elbows in a sitting position is
helped by placing the chair to be held at such a distance that
it can only be reached by extended elbows.
• Guiding/conducting task as a facilitation.
Facilitation through task series. The goals translated to
targets in the tasks which can be approached in a cognitive
way by controlled feedbacks. These serve as additional
clear informations provided controlled input coordination
becomes controllable. Through this indirect approach
analytical goals can be achieved.
Each disabled person has different abilities. The various
procedures of facilitation are chosen according to the
personality and problem solving ability; naturally, taking the
goals to be achieved into account. Facilitation changes and
decreases as the person develops. Facilitation integrated
into the personality of the individual assist him to become
orthofunctional. It is important for the assistance to be
minimal, to increase independence and for it to be used
in order to achieve a maximum performance. When
selecting and applying facilitation one must remember that
it should not inhibit individual activity and that it should
promote application of what has been learned. Continuous,
operative observation by the conductor helps the above.
It is not enough to recognize halting or inability. The way
an action is performed must be observed, thus facilitation
is determined. The above mentioned types of facilitation
can be used before, during and following task solution.
The conductive educational programme naturally includes
facilitation procedures and possibilities. It is refl ected in the
consecutive sessions, the structure of task series, the selection
of individual tasks and their ways of solution. For example,
the same task during the daily programme will be executed
in different positions, the active fl exion and extension of
the knees are learned in lying, sitting and standing positions
and when walking. By breaking down, simplifying or
complicating tasks, we ensure that the disordered person
solves the task and gains positive experiences.
• Manual or equipment facilitation
Manual or equipment facilitation is used if it helps over
a deadlock or helps to achieve a position. An important
principle is that it can involve only a distal section of the
active part of the limb. The disabled person will learn to
use facilitation and in time will include the assistance of
equipment and mechanical or physiological effects in his
own activities.Variety and the feel for a varied problem
solution are to be considered when applying the various
methods of facilitation. Uniformly applied assistance over
a long period of time is incorrect.
• Postural facilitations
So-called position facilitation is applied when the task
is to be executed in the most advantageous position for
the disabled person. For example, if task solution is not
successful when lying in a supine position then the task can
be temporarily solved while lying on the side.
• Neurological facilitations
Synergetic and successive effects and conditioning can
be regarded as neurological facilitation. Simultaneous
movement of the lower and upper limbs, simultaneous
fl exion of the feet and hands or simultaneous movement
of the upper or lower limbs in case of hemiplegia all have
a synergetic effect. Successive effect is achieved when
fl exion is preceded by extension or standing up is begun
from a squatting posture. Conductive education makes use
of neuro-physiological facts. They are to be applied as a
means subordinated to educational goals in order to achieve
functions. The disabled person is made aware of how to
achieve the performance of an activity and how he can
make his own movement easier.
